He’s called it “the best album in the world”; it’s had four different names; but now Kanye West’s seventh solo album – The Life of Pablo – has finally been revealed at an elaborate fashion/album launch at Madison Square Garden, which saw a surprise appearance from Naomi Campbell and black power salutes from his models.

Easily the most high-profile event at New York fashion week, West collaborated with artist Vanessa Beecroft (who he worked with at last year’s launch) and simulcast the event to venues around the world, combining an unveiling of his fourth fashion collection with a playback of his new LP.

Kanye West faces backlash over Taylor Swift lyric attack

Read more

As crowds including the Kardashian family filed in – dressed in all-white outfits made by French designer Olivier Rousteing – they were met by a huge sheet, which was covering two structures in the middle of what is usually the New York Knicks basketball court. Shortly after came West who, after some technical problems and false starts, began to play tracks from The Life of Pablo from a laptop, which appeared to receive an email after one of the songs.

The buildup had not exactly been smooth. West was involved in a Twitter argument with musician Wiz Khalifa after the latter accused him of stealing album title No 2 (Waves) from fellow rapper Max B. That then morphed into an argument with his former girlfriend Amber Rose, and things reached a rather bizarre nadir on Tuesday night when he tweeted: BILL COSBY INNOCENT!!!!!!!!!!.

There was a slightly ramshackle feel to the proceedings here, too, with West frantically moving from behind the computer to issue instructions to nervous floor managers.

A model delivers a black power salute during the show. Photograph: JP Yim/Getty Images for Yeezy Season 3

When the music did begin, the sheet was pulled back and the models appeared and stood near what looked like the kind of makeshift buildings found in refugee camps, held together with tarpaulin and plastic. As for the music, West revealed an album that continued his flirtation with noise, techno and harsh cut-up sampling, which proved so divisive on his last album Yeezus.

The opener Ultra Light Beam was a combination of heavy synths with gospel singing that referred to the terrorist attacks in Paris and featured Chance the Rapper. West continued with Father Stretch My Hands Pt1 & Pt2, a personal ode to his dad, which he shared some of the lyrics to earlier in the week on Twitter. Some of the music has been heard before, as well. West’s collaboration with fellow Chicagoan Vic Mensa and pop singer Sia, Wolves, was unveiled 12 months ago at his fashion week show. The penultimate track, Real Friends – a melancholy lament about lost friendship – has been on his Soundcloud account for a month. His collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, No More Parties in LA, didn’t make the cut, and nor did previously released Facts (although he did play it later, once the album was finished) or All Day.

It was a more pensive start to the record than the beginning of Yeezus, but much of the album saw West carry on his use of the narcissistic, belligerent character he introduced on his last album, with snipes and barbs directed at perceived foes including Taylor Swift (he raps “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex” on Famous) and Nike (Facts). He took things a stage further with FML, on which he confronted criticism about his new approach head on, rapping about people wanting to see the “old me”. He then took things down an even more meta route when he sang that writing a song solely about his own public image is exactly what the “new him” would do.

Editor-in-chief of American Vogue, Anna Wintour, in the audience. Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Yeezy Season 3

The Yeezy Season 3 collection, West’s third with Adidas, saw him continue his experimentation with streetwear and high-end design, but this year there were added elements: super-luxe fur and over-the-knee socks. The colour pallet was autumnal, with burgundy and burnt orange dominating. But the two most noteworthy moments on the fashion side were when Naomi Campbell appeared on top of one of the structures near the beginning of proceedings and when several of the models began to pose in the same black power salutes that were seen during Beyoncé’s Super Bowl half-time performance.

Vanessa Beecroft’s staging had included some very specific instructions to models (NO SMILE. YOU ARE A PICTURE. NO SEXY POSING) and created a rather eerie backdrop as West’s music was blasted out around Madison Square Garden.

West addressed the crowd after the playback was finished. “Tell me how y’all feel about the clothes this season?” he asked to cheers. “I think you might think because I’m a celebrity or I made money and rap, that this shit is easy to do. One of the hardest things to do was to get the talented people that worked on the collection to believe in my vision enough to come roll with a rapper.”

He thanked Adidas for paying for the collection and then led the crowd in a chant of “fuck Nike,” referring to his falling out with the company after a disagreement over royalties connected to his Air Yeezy footwear. At any other fashion show,or concert it might have felt incongruous, but at what was essentially an event celebrating West and all his idiosyncrasies there was something strangely fitting. As a parting shot he also said: “To be creative director of Hermès was a dream of mine.” This was certainly an unusual pitch for them to consider.